The explicative strength of mixed methods. The example of territorial differences in family emancipation in Catalonia

Abstract

The article addresses the territorial differences of youth emancipation in Catalonia by using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. This methodological approach allows the evaluation of the explanatory capacity of several theoretical models. The results obtained show that the differences among territories are the result of a combination of multiple factors that usually are not jointly considered in empirical research. To conclude, it is stated that it is just the mixing of quantitative and qualitative data that makes possible addressing jointly factors stemming from different theoretical approaches and related to different levels of social reality.